First, new countdowns:
3 days until my 26th birthday
8 days of work left this school year
12 days until Megan comes to visit
20 days until the bike ride at Lake Tahoe
21 days until my penpal Cathy comes to visit
26 days until I leave for South Africa
My dad always says, "Don't wish your life away," I swear I'm not! I know there's a lot of countdowns....I just have a lot to be excited about right now. I actually told someone just yesterday that if I could pause at age 26 I would. Life is just really good right now and I'd hang here for awhile. But maybe I'd pause it in about 9 days, when work is done for the school year!
Not much has been going on really. I was sick a lot last week. Sore throat, hacking cough, stuffy head! Sucked. But I feel a million times better this morning than I even felt on Saturday. Let's back up. The weekend before last we went out for Jeff's birthday. It was a GREAT time. And then I spent the entire day in bed throwing up, paying for that awesome time I had. This past weekend I spent a lot of time laying around since I wasn't feeling great. We celebrated Bailey's birthday down at the pool, but I didn't get in since I wasn't feeling good. Ooh ooh ooh, we also got a new game for the Wii which has now consumed most of my free time, Mario Kart. I have loved Mario Kart on ever gaming system Nintendo has come out with, but they have outdone themselves. You can go online and race people from all over the world. If your friends have it, you can race them too, which is fun. So my family needs to get it so we can all "hang out." I love this game! So like I said, that has been a big hit in our house.
We also watched some movies this weekend, "Untraceable" and "The Great Debaters." Both very good movies. The first about an internet killer (it's a thriller/mystery not a scary movie) and the other about the first black debate team to debate whites, with Forest Whitaker & Denzel. It was really good. I teared up a few times...
This Thursday is my birthday. Friday night we're going to the Improv (comedy club). We used to go a lot when we lived in Rancho because it was a block away from our apt. but we haven't been much and I want to go so we are! Saturday a co-worker of mine is having a housewarming cookout so we'll be doing that. And I think Ivan has a golf tournament that day too. Next week is the last week of work. So I won't be seeing any kids, just finishing up paperwork, cleaning, and packing everything away for the summer. YAY! Then Megan comes, then Ivan's friend Devone is coming. Although most of the time he will be here I will be in Tahoe. Time is flying.
I started getting nervous about my trip for the first time the other day. I was falling asleep and just started thinking about everything I would need to pack and it's the first time I felt nervous. Partly because I was like "Oh my God, when am I going to pack!" Because my penpal Cathy will be visiting up until the day before I leave (which really is still PLENTY of time!!) and I also was thinking about the other volunteers...what if I don't like them, what if they don't like me. Sounds so juvenile, but it's how I was feeling. I was talking to Celeeste about it and the conclusion is really: who cares! My priorities are the work I'll be doing, and then the list of things I want to do/see while I'm there. Relationships are icing on the cake. Not to mention, I'm sure it won't be an issue. It's so easy to make friends when everyone is in the same situation. And if you're open to it, which I am, then it's all good. I'd love to have that connection and feeling that I had when I was in Key Largo with my roommates, that would be the ideal, ultimate situation. But I'm older and different than I was then, not better or worse, but I am very different I think. So we'll see! The other realization I had was when I was thinking about the traveling I'll be doing that day. I realized that while I'm still in the U.S. in the Phoenix airport and then in Atlanta I will probably be on the phone NONSTOP! It will be the last time I'll be able to call people for free and talk as long as I want, and be in same timezones. I'm sure I will take full advanatge of that. So don't plan on sleeping in folks! I fly out of PHX at like 6:45, so at about 4:45 a.m. I will be making some phone calls! haha Ok ok, maybe I'll hold off until I'm in Atlanta. The organization I'm going with, AVIVA, has done some major updates to their website. You should check it out. They have a lot of new pictures up and tons of new information. I guess they have 2 volunteer houses now and they book like very nice! I feel kinda bad! But that is partly why I picked them. For my first major trip, and being alone, I at least wanted to be comfortable and feel safe. Anyway, the website is off to the right if you want to look.
Gotta go!
